


Plane trees

by Pikkulef



Series: Original characters and their original stories, not all well fitted together [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 15:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15318099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikkulef/pseuds/Pikkulef
Summary: Side story / jump ahead of time. This is mainly building the relationship between my two main characters ; but not only that.Summary that I wrote with that first chapter 4 years ago :Things happen. Jimmy, a dead man rather than a ghost, appears in Desden's flat in the middle of the night.  He and Diane don't know what to do, but it goes worse and worse and Desden fears this has to do with something he'd heard in his childhood. Also he and Diane have started seeing each other, but keep it secret for absolutely no logical reasonSo he takes the opportunity to go visit his late grand-father house, where he was raised, and brings Diane who doesn't really know what's happening.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This specific first chapter was written 4 years ago. There are many things that could change, and some stuff that now feel cringey to me. So I will come back to edit it. But if you see something, please go ahead and tell me so I can fix it.

    The big old house was at the end of an alley of plane trees, a little remote from the village. Desden, who had been happy and excited, talking a lot about when he used to live down there, when they were driving on the highway, and was even singing along with the radio, which was a calamity, had gradually become quiet, distant. Now he looked stressed and sad. It reminded Diane the first time she saw him, tired and angry under the pouring rain. He had this same lost face.   
“Here we are. That’s one beautiful big house.”   
Desden didn’t answer anything, stepped outside, let out Kalinka, and walked a few steps, his back very straight and his arms close to his body. Then he stopped and Diane, who had cut off the car’s engine, could hear him inhaling deeply the hot and dusty air, under the trees. Kalinka was busy sniffing around, too. The screeching of cicadas filled the atmosphere. It was the only sound.   
“Are you okay ?   
\- Yeah, yeah. Feels good to be here.” It didn’t look that way, judging by his face. “Ten years is long, but these odours bring back so many memories. Images. That’s good.  
\- You want a hand?” Better ask if he wanted rather than if he needed. Semantics were important.   
“Yeah please. Up to the porch, then I think I’ll manage. My mother told me on the phone, they haven’t moved anything much. I got Kalinka and the cane in my backpack anyway.” At the sound of her name, the dog put her nose in his hand. When he didn’t do anything much more than pet her absentmindedly, she went back to sniffing the ground around his feet. “Mum said she’d leave a note; see if you can find it. I’m sure it’ll be next to the phone. If you walk straight up to the end of the corridor, there will be a table on your left. It will be there.   
\- Ok, let’s walk to the house first.” Diane didn’t really know if she could try to cheer Desden up or if she should leave him alone. She opted for the second option; after all, he may still be happy to be here, but after ten years and with no sight anymore, it must be a hard time for him. She touched his left hand with her right, letting him take her arm by the elbow. He was clutching a little tighter than usual.   
  
    The alley was in fact quite long; she could have parked further, near the house. Never mind, it was nice to walk. The alley was a dirt road, linking the big road and the house; it was delimited by small stone walls, and of course the traditional twin rows of plane trees. Over the walls, left and right, were dry meadows and, far away, mountains that were delicately cut out against the deep blue sky, lace-like. Her love for nature and landscapes couldn’t be more satisfied.   
“And here’s the front door.” She guided his hand on the ornamented, thick wood panels. Once again he didn’t talk, just tilted his head backwards a little.   
“I’ll look for this note. You won’t need me anymore?  
\- I don’t need you.” Ah, semantics again. Also apparently the blunt, shut off Desden had returned. All right, she was going to take a loooong time finding this note. Maybe even visit the old house by herself. Leaving him alone was the only thing to do.   
  
    Desden didn’t know if he wanted to enter of just stay on the porch until he calmed down. He was excited, he was happy to be here, but all these memories were making him dizzy, and so terribly sad. How the hell could he be sad and happy at the same time? But he was. The smell of the plane trees, dust, and dry wood; with a lingering of box trees and brooms, all that was mixing with smells that weren’t there but were definitely alive in his head: pipe tobacco, grilled pepper… so many smells. So many images. The uneven shadows cast by the plane trees on the courtyard. The horrendous pink carpeted walls of the corridor. His grandmother’s – dead for a little more than fifteen years now – flowery dresses. His grand-father. The one he could not see a last time before he died, two years before. The one he had not seen nor talked to for nearly ten years. Desden sat on the last step of the porch.   
  
    It had not taken Diane two minutes to find the note. She smiled a little upon seeing it. She had never met Desden’s parents, but this was one mum who knew her son. Judging by what Desden had told her, it was the first time his mum tried that. It was cute. She must have worked a lot. There was a second note, addressed to her, and really nice. Except for the part suggesting a second bedroom. Eh, for all the mom knew, she could be a guy. Desden had just said “a friend”, but you could feel from the note that friends of Desden were something they were not accustomed to hear about. It made her feel weird. Why her? They had not known each other for that long and were not even talking about it. It was as if both of them were afraid of breaking the balance of their relationship by naming it. Or going public. To absolutely everyone, they were just friends.   
    The notes in hand, she had continued on the left of the corridor to a dining room, with windows that faced the other side of the house. She could see a beautiful garden, with lots of big trees and small bushes, very green compared to the meadows. In front of her, at the other side of a little yard, was a cherry tree with some big, black cherries left on some branches. She turned around, and left the dining room for a living room, old fashioned, as everything in this house probably, complete with a high-tech TV set, that faced the plane trees courtyard. There were a lot of family pictures, on the walls and tables, everywhere. The twins had the biggest number of pics, of course, each of them labelled with their names in a beautiful, twisted hand writing in coloured ink. Quite a nice way not to mix the identical little girls. There were no twins in Diane’s family, and she had never known any. Not that she’d known about – sometimes people you know have a twin, but since you never see them together, you never know. There were also other things, people unknown to her, a Labrador dog. And there, on the wall above the fireplace, two children on a bench. Same hair colour, same nose, same type of face; the boy taller and older, the girl a little chubby and with frizzy hair. They were laughing and you could see the girl missed a few teeth. Also the bench was clearly under the cherry tree she’d seen before. A place of memories indeed, but this one made her happy. She would have to ask Desden about that crappy little toy cat Laurence carried.   
    Her gaze shifted. Desden was staring right at her. A younger, obviously sighted Desden, with a light stubble on his cheeks; it was outlining a very thin scar that apparently ran all the way along his jaw, on the left side of his face. She had never noticed it before. On this photograph he was standing next to a pool, probably in a bathing suit, but this was a close up. He was definitely brawny and, dammit, was he gorgeous. Of course he still was, in a way, more mature. More chest hair. She chuckled. But it felt weird having those deep blue eyes looking at her this way. Looking at her at all. Better leave and not look at this picture again.   
  
    Leaving the living room let her back at the beginning of the corridor, next to the door. She saw Desden had not moved and sat – after all it had only been a couple of minutes since she’d left him. She was ready to continue exploring when she heard a sniff. Then two. She slapped her feet a little harder on the floor while walking up to him. Startle him now and he won’t talk to you for three days.   
“Are you crying?  
\- What, are you wondering if the blind can cry now?” His voice had a vicious tone. She had to stay calm. It was indeed hard for him, so no stupid reaction would be good. She still had to adapt to him, and his sudden mood swings were a big step, as she had noticed they were quite frequent.   
“Ok, I get it. I’ll be exploring the house, shout if you want anything.” Want, not need. She tapped him on the shoulder, but he snatched her hand before she could walk away.   
  
    Desden didn’t let go of her hand. He caressed her fingers for a while, and then kissed the back of her hand lightly, silently thanking her for keeping her mouth shut. He didn’t know if now was the right time, but he felt like he owed her some explanation. He took off his glasses and placed them on his head, absently scratching his scalp with them. He wiped his cheeks with his palms.   
“I am sorry. I’m a bitter bastard. I had not cried like that for years. And you know what? It actually feels good.” Diane sat next to him, and he placed his arm around her shoulders, sneaking his hand into her t-shirt, right above her chest, just feeling her warmth. He could feel a pulse, but couldn’t tell if it was his or her heart beating. It was nice.   
“I saw your picture on the living room wall. You were one handsome young son of a bitch.   
\- And now I’m an ugly old son of a bitch?   
\- Now you’re a handsome man. With a wee tiny beer gut.   
\- I don’t know how I should take that.” His eyes were still red and had this weird trembling movement they did sometime, but he looked more relaxed. He let some time pass, then spoke in a half voice, his face half turned away, blinking rapidly: “Remember when I told you I was lucky to have such a supportive family? Taking out the over-loving ones, of course, but she can’t help it.”   
Diane didn’t really remember anything like that. But there was the note. “Yes?   
\- Turns out there was one person who reacted totally wrong to what happened to me. Totally wrong with no explanation. And it was one of the people I held dearest. My grand-father would not see me again or even talk on the phone. For eight years. Then he died, and he had not talked to me. Not once. Sometimes we would be in the same room and he would talk, but never to me. Never. Not about me either. And he usually avoided being at the same place. He acted like I wasn’t even there anymore, like a ghost.   
\- Rude. Rude and mean.   
\- Rude indeed. This man had had me living at his house every summer every goddamn year for twenty years, went from wiping my ass to monitoring my drinking, and suddenly it was as if I never existed. Because I was blind. How crazy is that?” His voice was shaky once again. “I don’t want you to think I was crying because I can’t see the place. It sure is sad, but it’s all right, I’ve been through that already, that’s old. I don’t care, I have memories. This is not self-pity, for once. I cried… I cry because I loved this asshole.” Desden was crying again. He kept his eyes shut and covered his mouth with both hands. His nose was running. Diane handed him a Kleenex – what with girls always having everything in their pockets – and he wiped it. “I didn’t cry when he died. I was too angry. I think I even told my mum something like “good riddance”. Can you believe I said that? To my mom who had just lost her father? About a man who raised me? I cry because I would like to speak with him right now, to hug him right now, but he had erased me from his life and now he’s dead. But he’s still there in the plane trees and in the pipe smoke and in this warm wind, you know? And I hate him for that. I hate him for how he behaved. But I miss him. So much now that we’re here.  
\- Where, pipe smoke?  
\- There.” He tapped his forehead with two fingers. “I thought I’d be able to handle it. That I was still too angry at him to let his absence hurt me. Also…” He stopped. His voice had steadied once again. But how to put that in words while not looking like a fool? She knew Jimmy. She knew what he was. She had experienced it, among other things. She had seen things. Thinking about Jimmy, it felt good being free from him at once. He had grown to like him but having this constant static electricity feeling was unnerving, to say the least. Not talking about his never ending monologues. Anyway, he had to say it. “Also my grand-father had that thing. Like me. God, this is ridiculous.   
\- No it’s not. Go on.   
\- You know, when I know Jimmy is around before you do. Or one of those things you saw. I feel them. He did too. He taught me about this other world or whatever it is and the things in it. The dangers. And the things that could happen. He taught me. He… prepared me, in a way? Does this make sense?   
\- Is that why we’re here today? The things I saw? You felt them?  
\- Yes and no. I felt them. I had locked all that up and away in my head, but now they’re coming back and there’s too many of them to turn a blind eye – that was not intended. We’re here to find his books. His notes. But we’re also here because I needed to come and I needed to show you. And…” He had a crooked smile. The usual Desden was coming back. “I wanted to be alone with you?   
\- You realize you are mixing very scary and serious matters with the fact that you want to bang.   
\- Yup. Not right now.” His hand moved on her chest. “Maybe right now. There’s too many feelings, I don’t know for sure.   
\- I’ll make us some drinks, what about that?   
\- Check if there’s some iced tea. You’ll love my mum’s iced tea. Then I’ll take you sight-seeing.  
\- Is this a wink?  
\- Attempted wink. Did you find the note?”  
Diane had almost forgotten. She stood up at the same time than him, making her thick braid pass over her shoulder with a quick movement of her head.   
“Here’s your note.” She grabbed his wrist so he wouldn’t go away.   
“I was going to the kitchen right here. I can hear you.   
-Yeah, but – ”She shoved the thick piece of paper she'd been holding, almost cardboard, into Desden’s hand. His face lit up in surprise. “I can’t read it.   
\- Looks like mum has finally learned new tricks now that she’s retired. What do you say about old dogs?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written as a reply to a prompt on tumblr, and I felt like developing what happened in chapt 1... except 4 years later. What can you do. 
> 
> Focused heavily on character relationship

“Well, what do you want to do?”   
  
Diane was always like that. Jumping right on her feet as she woke up. Desden groaned and turned away as she opened the shutters, flooding the room in bright light.   
“Uh, sorry.” She closed them a little.”Is it okay like that?”   
He groaned again, his head under a pillow.   
“It’s already nine.” She sat on her side of the bed. “Maybe we should do something.  
“NINE?” His voice was muffled by the pillow, but she could still hear him growl. “And you wake me up like this? What kind of demon are you?  
“Couldn’t sleep. Besides, it’s nine.    
“I’ll give you sleep, you utter monster.” He threw the pillow in the general direction of her voice, and was pleasantly surprised when it sounded like she got it…   
“Missed. Hopefully I was still swift enough to catch it before it crashed into that mirror on the far wall.”   
  
Judging that the light was bearable, Desden turned and slowly sat up, scraching his hair. “What do you want to do at this ungodly hour on a Saturday?   
“Depends on if you feel like coming with me or not.   
“Okay so that means you’ll either go running or… uh. I really don’t know what’s doable here. We’re in the middle of nowhere.   
“The village is less than two kilometers away. As far as I know you can still walk.” She lightly pinched his thigh.   
“And what are we going to do once we’re there?   
“Dunno. Look around.   
“Uh-huh. Oddly enough I’m not interested.” Desden yawned. He couldn’t suppress a smile when he heard Diane copy him. “Gotcha. See? You want to come back to sleep with me.   
“No I don’t. I need to move, I can’t just stay here like that. Especially when the weather is so good.   
“But it’s Saturday! Day off! Week-end! How can you do this to yourself?  
“What, you want me to sit on my arse and do nothing all day long with you? Seriously?  
“I was not thinking of doing… nothing…” Desden rolled on his belly next to her and took her hand.   
“Oh, I see. But not now.”   
Desden let out an exagerated sigh and let his head flop on the bed. “Go then. Abandon me.   
“Just like, half an hour. Time to run to the village and come back. With croissants.”  
Desden turned on his back yet again.    
“That’s an interesting offer, but I’m afraid I shall decline.  
“You?!” She chuckled and nudged his belly. He hit her hand playfully. “You are going to decline an offer of fresh, still warm croissants?”   
“Oh yes.” He got up from the bed and started putting on his jeans. “I’ve got an idea.” He pulled on a t-shirt and stretched, then clasped his hands. “I’m going to cook a big breakfast, so big, and so good, so that once you’ve eaten it, the only thing you will be able to think about is having a nap. Told you I’ll give you sleep.    
“Right.” She rolled her eyes, and made it clear for him by adding “A  _nap_.”    
“Yeah, this kind of  _nap_ , too, if you want.” He came back towards her and planted a kiss on her forehead. She laughed.   
“Deal.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, tumblr prompt.   
> Focused heavily on character relationship, still.

Diane had left, disappearing in a cloud of heat and harsh light, as she opened the front door and Desden waved her goodbye. He was definitely going to stay inside, with this weather. The dog on his heels, he stepped into the kitchen, carefully making his way through the cupboards and drawers – there, too, Mum had done her homework. It put a smile on his face. It still took a relatively long time, but in the end he finally settled with all he needed, and started cooking, whistling – off key.  
  
He was not done when she came back, so she just said hi, stole some raw dough from the soon to be cookies, and disappeared again.  
  
She was gone for a long while. Food was ready, yet she did not come when he called. Where the hell could she be, in this gigantic house?  
  
He called again, briefly opening doors to the living room, then the dining room. She was more than probably upstairs. Yet, almost sheepishly, he tried the last room downstairs. He had not opened this door yet, after a day and a half in the house. The room was dark – darker than the penumbra the whole house was immersed into, as usual in summer. He could still tell. It smelled like old dust. Forgotten things. It was empty. He was certain of that, even if he had no way to tell. He did not dare investigate further, did not call, closed the door and walked to the staircase, his heart briefly feeling hollow. Kalinka, who never left him alone, followed.  
  
Upstairs, he checked their room, the first one on the right as you left the staircase, the brightest one, too. She wasn’t there either – he had called softly, in case she’d gone back to sleep, and went so far as to pat the bed – nothing. Then it dawned on him. How could he have been so dumb?  
  
His simple “hey” was met with a sudden splash of water ad surprised yell:   
“WHAT THE – hey.”   
More splashing.   
“What, are you trying to hide your nudity from my piercing eyes?  
“No, I just -   
“Wait, I called you… you fell asleep in the tub?!   
“… Kinda, yeah.   
“And you didn’t even tell me you were – do you know how badly this could have turned out? I called you, many times –   
“Yeah, Mum, thanks, Mum.   
“This is not funny.”  
  
Though Desden’s face clearly showed he was at least a little amused, so she splashed some more water at him when he approached. He laughed, but didn’t try to retaliate. She watched as he sat next to the bathtub, facing her, his back against the tiled wall, folding his seemingly neverending legs against his chest. Half grimacing under the water on his face, he was still smiling:   
“So. Breakfast is ready. How was the run?”


End file.
